ATV Albert Einstein, Europe’s supply and support ferry, docked with the International Space Station last Saturday.

Demetrios Georgalas's insight:

18 June 2013

ATV Albert Einstein, Europe’s supply and support ferry, docked with the International Space Station last Saturday. This image, taken from the Station, reveals the exhaust plumes as the 20-tonne craft fires some of its 24 thrusters to adjust its approach.

At the end of this delicate and automated procedure, ESA’s largest spacecraft made contact with humanity’s largest orbital outpost at 14:07 GMT (16:07 CEST) as they travelled at 28 000 km/h.

“We’ll have a chance to discuss the situation in Greece and what more can be done to bolster European growth, which obviously has been lagging over the course of the last seven, eight years, and ends up having an impact on the world economy and the U.S. economy,” President Obama said.

Demetrios Georgalas's insight:

President Obama said he believes the transatlantic unity is as strong as ever and that has been evident in the Ukraine issue and the sanctions against Russia. He added that Europe and the United States must work together to aid the Ukrainian economy.

In regards to global economy and growth, the U.S. president stressed the importance of the transatlantic trade agreement. He also said that the two men will discuss the situation in Greece and the efforts to boost the European economy.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000 kilometers) from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity at about 4:39 a.m. PST (7:39 a.m. EST) Friday. Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California received a signal from the spacecraft at 5:36 a.m. PST (8:36 a.m. EST) that Dawn was healthy and thrusting with its ion engine, the indicator Dawn had entered orbit as planned. "Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet," said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL. "Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles (4.9 billion kilometers) and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres, home." In addition to being the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets. From 2011 to 2012, the spacecraft explored the giant asteroid Vesta, delivering new insights and thousands of images from that distant world. Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of our solar system’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

From Bordeaux to Riga, travellers have selected the best places to visit in Europe. Discover now the best destinations to travel this year !

Demetrios Georgalas's insight:

Athens is considered the cradle of western civilization. Over the years, a multitude of conquerors occupied Athens, and erected unique, splendid monuments - a rare historical palimpsest, evident everywhere in the city.

The contemporary urban scenery of the sprawling city reflects its exciting history, its multi-cultural modern personality as well as the infrastructure and facilities. In other words, Athens is a must destination that combines modern urban innovation with history, culture and natural beauty throughout the year.

Regarding contemporary Greek politics and the first signs of the new Administration, one can trace both symbolism and essence, but not in the way described by Erasmus. The political oath, taken by PM Tsipras was a message that the people in this country are equal no matter what they believe about God, what is their sexual orientation or what is their color. Moreover, it says that the relations between Church and State must be reconsidered to agree on a mutually beneficiary set of reforms. By the way, the model of the Greek Orthodox Church does not differ from the common paradigm in the vast majority of the European States. Let’s not forget that the Queen of UK is also the leader of the Church, and the Americans portray their religious beliefs on the dollar.

Britain's Treasury chief warned that the standoff between Greece and the eurozone over the country's bailout is endangering the global economy, urging the new government in Athens to act responsibly.

George Osborne characterized his talks with Greece's new Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Monday as "constructive," but cautioned that now was the time to "choose competence over chaos." He urged the eurozone countries to come up with a better plan for jobs and growth in Greece.

"It's clear that the standoff between Greece and the eurozone is fast becoming the biggest risk to the global economy, and it's a rising threat to our economy at home," Osborne said.

Greece's radical left Syriza party won parliamentary elections last week, alarming investors and eurozone governments. Party leader and new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said he wants to end years of budget austerity that eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund had required in exchange for 240 billion-euro ($270 billion) in rescue loans. He also wants to renegotiate payment of the bailout debt.

Greece's finance minister will meet with investors and fund managers in London on Monday as he continues his tour of European capitals to drum up support for his government's demands.

Though Britain is not part of the euro, Varoufakis sought to build rapport with Osborne with face-to-face talks. Downing Street described Britain's position is one of continuity — and that Greece should honor the terms of its bailout.

An independent organisation called Freedom House published its annual Freedom in the World report .

According to the methodology of Freedom House each country is being evaluated on a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 stands for the highest result and 7 for the lowest. The factors taken into consideration are political rights and civil liberties.

Europe in general shows very positive results: the majority of the countries are free. Ukraine, Moldova, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia and Turkey are evaluated as "partially free".

At the same time Belarus was recognized as "worst of the worst" as far as freedom is concerned, along with China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Sudan, Chad, Syria, Somalia and several other African and Asian countries.

How is it possible that Europe shows such dramatic contrasts?

What are the key factors that should be improved in order to reach a higher level of freedom?

Belarus is an issue for debates for 20 years, still practically nothing has changed there. Is the European Union helpless in improving the situation in Belarus?

You can have a precise look at the statistics and interactive maps at World Freedom Index 2015, find more details about the research and compare the countries indexes.

Tensions between Greece’s new left-wing government and the European creditors backing the country’s bailout spilled into the open yesterday when the first meeting between the two sides ended with the Dutch minister representing the lenders storming off. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the eurogroup of finance ministers, was so annoyed by remarks made by Greece’s new finance minister during their first hour-long meeting and the subsequent joint press conference that he walked out on his host.

According to Bloomberg’s 2015 ranking of the world's 50 most innovative countries, Greece is in the 29th place, among more than 200 countries evaluated. Bloomberg ranked countries based on their overall ability to innovate. It identified the top 50 in terms of: (i) R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP; (ii) manufacturing value-added per capita; (iii) high-tech companies domestically domiciled; (iv) education levels of a country’s workforce; (v) personnel engaged in R&D, and (vi) the number of patents granted. Postsecondary education in particular is measured in four different ways. Greece ranks first in one post-secondary education sub-category, which measures the percentage of college-age population. However, as the index stresses, excellence is multi-factored and success is a combination of many prerequisites. South Korea tops this year's overall ranking, while the U.S. places 6th, and China 22nd.

When I saw the first roll of dark skin emerge from the water, I knew we weren’t alone. I was on a boat with Whale Watch West Cork less than a kilometre off the coast of Baltimore, a village on Ireland’s southwest coast, and the captain, Nic Slocum, had just spotted a menacing shadow creeping up from the depths below. He switched off the engine. A moment later, the 10 Spanish, British and German travellers on deck started to shriek: next to our drifting tugboat was a 7.5m-long, bullet-headed minke whale, capable of knocking us sideways.

European Parliament looks to reinstate deadline for abolition of roaming charges.

Demetrios Georgalas's insight:

Members of the European Parliament are preparing for a scrap with the member states over legislation to regulate the telecoms markets, incensed that the Council of Ministers will not support the abolition of roaming charges for communications made abroad.

Italy and Spain are neck and neck for the top spot in total olive oil consumption, according to a report today by the International Olive Council.

Demetrios Georgalas's insight:

But before accusing Europeans of pitching to the world what they themselves seem to be turning away from, consider that the average Italian still consumes more than 8.4 liters of olive oil each year. In Spain, per capita consumption is holding at 9.5 liters per year, and Greeks, despite the crisis, still drench their foods in 14.9 liters of olive oil on average, according to the IOC figures.

For decades, the U.S. government’s dietary guidelines have warned Americans off eggs and other cholesterol-rich foods on the theory that dietary cholesterol increases one’s risk for heart disease. But last week, Americans woke up to a new egg paradigm. According to the nutrition experts on the government’s Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, cholesterol is no longer a “nutrient of concern.” In fact, if they have their way, the government’s new dietary guidelines won’t include any prohibition against cholesterol at all. Why the reversal? Ira discusses the latest science on cholesterol and fat with the Harvard School of Public Health’s Walter Willett and the Cleveland Clinic’s Steven Nissen. Produced by Annie Minoff, SciArts Producer

The remains of a man and woman locked in an embrace, which were found at an archaeological site near the Diros Caves in the Peloponnese, constitute a “stunning discovery” dating to around 3,800 BC, the head of the dig has told Kathimerini.

“It is possibly the oldest grave to have ever been found,” according to Giorgos Papathanassopoulos, who has led excavation work at the Diros site since the 1970s. “It is the most stunning discovery,” he added, noting that the fact the couple were buried together indicated the importance given to the institution of family after death in ancient times.

The remains, which were unearthed last year and in 2013, were analyzed using radiocarbon dating. The results of the analysis, which were made public last week, showed that the bones belonged to a man and a woman, both aged between 20 and 25.

Archaeologists were also studying the remains of another couple whose remains were found in an adjacent grave to the one containing the embracing pair. The second couple are believed to be older and were found buried in a more “conventional” fashion, Papathanassopoulos said.

The fact that an ossuary and several ceramic urns, beads and other offerings were found in the grave points to “an organized society,” he said.

Because of Brussels' blustering, the Euro is in a perilous position. Marine Le Pen, PEGIDA, Golden Dawn don't even have to recruit any more as Merkel and Draghi provide all the marketing they need. The future of Europe lies directly in the hands of one man, Alexis Tsipras.

Demetrios Georgalas's insight:

Because of Brussels' blustering, the Euro is in a perilous position. Marine Le Pen, PEGIDA, Golden Dawn don't even have to recruit any more as Merkel and Draghi provide all the marketing they need. The future of Europe lies directly in the hands of one man, Alexis Tsipras.

Boisterous “What Ever It Takes” Mario Draghi and Merkel are trying to 'parent' Greece before its contagion rips all of Europe apart. The children of Athens have grown up though, after nearly seven years of austerity, massive unemployment, and a return of nationalism. Now, they are muddling their way into adolescence. Syriza's rejection of the status quo and its demands for a “Grexit” are its first real protestations, a youthful rebellion.

Unfortunately for the Troika, they know their threats are baseless. Greece's departure would signal an end to the EU as we know it today. Italy and Spain would not be far behind in raising similar demands seeing how their Southern neighbors were able to negotiate for a preferable debt deal.

Saturday's session of the annual Munich Security Conference began with a speech by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who took the podium just hours after returning from Moscow, where she and French President Francois Hollande presented a new peace initiative to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In her first direct comments since Friday's more than four hours of talks, the chancellor did not appear overly optimistic that the German-French initiative would bring an end to the fighting between pro-Russia separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine. "After the talks yesterday in Moscow that the French president and I had, it is uncertain if it will succeed," Merkel said. "But it is in my view and the French president's view definitely worth trying. We owe it to the people affected in Ukraine, at the very least," the chancellor said. Addressing the conference a little later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seemed slightly more optimistic. "These talks will continue as you know; we believe there is every possibility that we will reach a result and agree the recommendations that will allow the sides to really untie this knot of a conflict," Russia's top diplomat said.

Demetrios Georgalas's insight:

However, he also took the opportunity to lay the blame for the 10-month-old conflict squarely on the West.

"The United States and the European Union have taken steps to escalate the Ukraine crisis at every turn," Lavrov said.

He also denounced "growing appeals in the West to ... pump Ukraine full with lethal weapons and to involve it in NATO."

Discord over supplying weapons

This followed an earlier statement made to a group of reporters by the military commander of NATO, US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, who said the Western alliance should not rule out the idea of providing weapons to Ukraine.

King Constantine has returned from exile and sees hope in anti-austerity politics Deep in the Greek countryside, past snowy Mount Olympus and along olive groves shrouded in mist, lives a king who has finally returned after 47 years of weary exile to find his country once more in turmoil. His Royal Highness King Constantine II, King Con to his friends and Tino to his queen, now lives in a rented beach villa. “It’s always flooding, we have mud all over the basement,” he says.

Who is responsible for the crisis? Joseph Stiglitz, professor at the University of Columbia, is of the opinion that ‘EU’s malaise is self-inflicted’ and that is owed ‘to an unprecedented succession of bad economic decisions, beginning with the creation of the euro’. This is an opinion that, in light of recent events, has been embraced by more and more Europeans. Who is responsible for the management of this situation? Taking into account the deep implications that the situation of Greece has on the European Union as a whole, I am inclined to say that the EU is the one responsible for its development. I do not think that the EU can afford to mismanage yet another (European) crisis, as it is related to a state that has been a member of the EU for more than three decades and is the bedrock of Western civilisation. The sensibility of the situation and the multiple layers on which it unwinds (political, economic, cultural, social) are signs that this will not be an easy task for the EU. Good management will have to involve communication, diplomacy and effective actions. Obstacles have already appeared as Greece has objected to the Statement of the Heads of State or Government published on the 27th of January with regard to the killings that took place in Ukraine in the city of Mariupol on the 24th of January. Greece has accused the EU of circulating the statement ‘without the proper procedures being followed in order to obtain the consent of Member States and specifically Greece’s consent’.

Demetrios Georgalas's insight:

Ligia Corduneanu explores the reasons behind the downfall of the Greek economy in the third and final edition of the question of Grexit which seems to be on everyone's mind ever since the far left political party Syriza, was elected in Greece last Sunday. How will Europe react and what implications will the new power in Greece have on managing the crisis still remains to be seen.

Syriza has won the elections. Now what?

Germany called a Grexit from the Eurozone as being manageable at the beginning of January, and from an economic point of view, maybe it will be. Some reasons are given: the setting of a bail-out mechanism, the better shape of the European banks and enhanced ability of foreign investors to better distinguish among the members of the Eurozone. Furthermore, it is believed that European officials will not let their guard down as they fear that such an approach will support the rise of anti-austerity movements in other countries that have struggled during the euro crisis .However, a deal is strongly believed to be taking place.

But what if Greece will want to leave the Eurozone at some point? Mike Dolan, in an article for Reuters, has analysed the conditions in which such an exit is possible, from the treaties’ point of view. He states that ‘there is no legal provision or framework in EU treaties for a country to leave the euro’ and that an alternative route would be to leave the Union altogether. With 75% of Greeks not wanting to leave the Eurozone or the EU, it seems to not be the case of such a scenario just yet, but opinions can change.

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